Jersey Six - Jewel E Ann Page 0,112
with them, I would have found you. And when they died, I would have saved you.”
“Saved me?”
“Yes.”
“How? Were you going to adopt me?”
He shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”
Jersey laughed. “Daddy Ian. It’s a little …”
“Don’t.” He chuckled. “Now you’re making it weird.”
“Had they adopted both of us, we would have been siblings.”
“Jersey … stop.” He shook his head, hiding his grin behind his coffee mug.
She tugged the blanket around her tighter. “Did you know Charles and Dena had a dog named Cooper? He died of cancer. It was years before I was with them, but I saw a picture of him. He was a German Shepard. Did they have him when you were there?”
Ian nodded slowly, keeping his focus on the trees and the birds.
“Oh my god!” Jersey laughed, reaching over to put her hand on his arm. “I get the Ian; it’s from Guardian. But Cooper … did you name yourself after a dog?”
Ian rolled his lips together, narrowing his gaze a bit while keeping it focused away from Jersey.
“Coop? Did you name yourself after a dog?”
“A dog makes it sound crazy. Cooper was more than just a dog.”
Jersey giggled, bending at the waist, holding her belly. “That’s the best … it really is. God, I love you, Coop.” As her laughter settled, she glanced over at him.
He watched her with a bit of amusement and something else, maybe an uneasy disbelief? “Do you?” he asked with a stifled confidence. An Ian she didn’t know. Not the Ian who owned sold-out venues of screaming fans.
Her smile deflated a bit, feeling his vulnerability squeezing her heart. “Yeah, I do. I love you, Coop. I meant what I said … I’ve spent my whole life waiting to love you.”
Ian laced his fingers with hers, giving her hand a firm squeeze. She took his coffee from his other hand and set it on the little table. Then she crawled onto his lap, straddling it. Her favorite place to be.
“I don’t want to close the door to our pasts either. If we leave it open, it just shows how strong we are. It means we know we don’t have to run anymore because we are brave and strong. And sometimes I might want to look back to discover things about you in the now, like you named yourself after a dog.” She grinned.
He slid his hands under the blanket, palming her naked ass. “Watch it.”
Jersey giggled.
Ian’s gaze settled on her face and the scar beneath her eye. He leaned forward and kissed it. “Fisher’s ring cut your eye and left a scar. It’s how I knew for sure it was you that day at the hot dog stand.”
She nodded.
“I’m going to discover why you say you like olives but won’t eat them.” Ian twisted his mouth.
Jersey glanced over his shoulder, her brow slightly wrinkled. “The wife of the man I killed. Her name was Sharon. She was oblivious and evil in her own way. And a drunk. One day I saw her sitting in the kitchen, drinking something with olives in it. A martini. I’d never had an olive before. I asked her what they were, and she pulled one out and handed it to me. The gin burned my tongue, but I liked the salty olive. I still do, but they just bring back bad memories.”
Ian nodded slowly, brow tense. “I’m going to take you to Tuscany. We’ll stay at a vineyard … I know a guy.” He smirked. “We’ll drink wine, eat pasta with our hands, and I’ll feed you olives until the only thing you think of when you see one is me.”
“I’ll check my work schedule. Which …” She pulled on his arm and glanced at his watch. “I open this morning. In an hour.” Jersey tried to stand.
Ian pulled her back to him. “Play hooky. Let’s go back to bed and do what terrible people do.”
“No. Sorry, Coop. I have a job. I like it. I want to keep it. So you’ll have to be terrible with someone else today.” She wriggled out from his hold on her and rewrapped the blanket around her body.
Ian frowned. “I fear we’re still not on the same page. I don’t want to be terrible with anyone but you. And I don’t want you—”
“To let anyone touch me where you’ve put your mouth?” She glanced at him over her shoulder at the doorway, a flirty grin on her face.
That erased his frown.
“I get it.” She rolled her eyes. “I think that leaves maybe